


Gratuitous Flights of the Imagination

by OrdinaryRealities



Series: O, Tiger's Heart Wrapped in a Woman's Hide [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Asexual Phichit Chulanont, In which they meet at a competition and live happily ever after, M/M, Phichit has some good friends, Rated for some very brief canon-typical language from Yuri Plisetsky, Some unhappiness about old pets, mentioned death of hamsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-17 08:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrdinaryRealities/pseuds/OrdinaryRealities
Summary: Before Four Continents, Phichit was fairly certain they had never spoken. Seung-gil started the conversation. That was the first surprise.“My condolences.”“What?”In which Phichit and Seung-gil meet, flirt, and text one another.





	1. One: Four Continents

**Author's Note:**

> Author did some reading but is not ace. Hopefully I didn't mess things up very badly. If I did, please let me know. I'll do my best to fix it. I love Phichit and I love Seung-gil and I hope that I managed to do justice to both of them. I apologize for the argument between Leo and Phichit - I'm still not entirely happy with it and may yet revise it again - but I was interested in the ways that these boys (and these two in particular; Leo and Phichit both seem so cheery) might react. What makes them fight, how do they fight, what sort of friends are they to one another? I hope that my love of them comes across in spite of that and that Leo doesn't come across as too much of a douche.
> 
> Another thing: Since the YoI powers that be have declared YoI a homophobia-free zone, I attempt to follow that restriction in this whole series. Since some of the things said in the original show sound a little like heteronormativity to me, I'm going to assume that this is a lack of systemic homophobia and allow the existence of the odd asshole, because I can't hold an entire homophobia-free world in my head long enough to imagine how that looks. (Shit, that's depressing.) So that's my aim. I'll try and make it work.

Before Four Continents, Phichit was fairly certain they had never spoken. Seung-gil started the conversation. That was the first surprise. 

“My condolences.”

“What?”

“My condolences. On the Grand Prix.”

“What? Oh,” Phichit realized what the other man was talking about and flapped a hand at him. “I’m just excited to have gotten that far. I’ve got time.” For a moment, he thought Seung-gil was going to walk away without another word (was he taking offense? Had Phichit said anything especially rude? He couldn’t remember what their age difference was.) but in the end the other man stayed, lip curled. 

“I thought you’d understand.” Pause. “I thought you’d know better.” His emphasis landed on the last two words with all the weight of a failed quad.

Phichit blinked at the other man. He wasn’t sure he’d ever really noticed him before. “You sounded like a reporter.” How the hell was he supposed to answer something like that, especially from a relative stranger?

“And you sounded like you’ve got no more substance than your social media would suggest.” His face was implacable. 

Phichit shrugged. “Who’s to say that’s not true?” Personally, he thought his social media presence at least a little bit impressive.

“You’re a competitive skater at the top of your sport. Chances are-”

“So I must be a good person, just because I’m a good athlete?”

Seung-gil almost smiled. “Interesting. Not good.” He cocked his head and studied Phichit. “You’re the first Thai skater to get anywhere near this far. You’ve got to be ruthless.” In contrast to his words, he hesitated at the end of the last sentence. 

Phichit beamed. “Smile!” He snapped three selfies with the other man. Seung-gil scowled in all three. “You should come to dinner with us tonight. Here, I’m tagging you. We’re meeting in the lobby at six.” He turned his phone for Seung-gil to see the completed post. 

“Why would I come to dinner with you? How would that benefit me?” Seung-gil looked suspicious. Phichit wondered if this counted as ‘ruthless’ if he pushed the anti-social man into coming out and having a good time.

“It would give you a chance to scope out the competition. Yuuri will be there, and Viktor, who we’ll be up against at Worlds anyway, Chris, me. Otabek said he might come. Guang-hong and Leo definitely. Leo’s made friends with little Yuri somehow and we’re going to find out how tonight.” Phichit shook his phone at the ceiling dramatically, playing it up. “I asked little Yuri three times in the group chat and he refused to say.”

Seung-gil giggled. Phichit tried to hide how charmed he was, but only because he was afraid Seung-gil would take it as an excuse to stop. “Why is Plisetsky in a group chat for dinner at a competition he isn’t in?”

Phichit shrugged. “It got started in Barcelona.” Inspired, he added, “Here, give me your number, I’ll add you.” 

“I usually spend competition nights in my hotel room, calculating scores and watching old programs.” 

The inflection was uncertain, not dismissive, so Phichit upped the ante. “Maybe you’ll figure out if there’s anything more to me than my media personality.”

“Bold of you to assume I haven’t already made up my mind about that.”

Seung-gil’s face was impassive, but he’d said ‘Bold of you.’ Phichit decided he was being teased. “Go ahead then, Sherlock.” He spread his arms, “Whatcha got?”

Seung-gil clearly knew the reference. “You care about your friends just as much as you claim, but part of their value to you is entertainment.” He shrugged. “I can’t decide if that keeps you from being a contradiction or makes you more of one.” 

“Well,” Phichit wasn’t sure why he was pushing the point so hard, “Come to dinner with us and find out.”

“Maybe I will.” Seung-gil looked almost surprised by the words coming out of his mouth, like he’d spoken more to test how they would sound than to commit himself to anything. 

Phichit offered the other man his phone. “Put your number in. We’re meeting in the lobby at six.” He reclaimed his phone and shot off a copy of one of the pictures. “You’ve got my number now. And should I add you to the general dinner chat?”

The look Seung-gil gave him was unimpressed. “We’ll see how tonight goes first.”

 

In spite of the lack of a text, Phichit was still unduly surprised when he came down at 6:03 to find Seung-gil glowering from beside Leo and Guang-hong. They looked like they weren’t sure whether to be nonplussed or terrified, and Phichit was about to go stir them up a little when an arm slung over his shoulder. 

“Chris!” He beamed up at the older man. “Good to see you!” He pulled out his phone and snapped a selfie with the other man. Seung-gil was shifting like he was considering making a break for it after all. Phichit pulled Chris across the lobby after him. “Chris, you remember Leo and Guang-hong from China? And I don’t know if you’ve met Seung-gil?”

Chris offered his hand to the Korean skater. “I'm not sure that we’ve met, but I doubt there are many who don’t know of you, with your quad loop.”

Seung-gil took Chris’s hand uncertainly (silently) while Phichit tried to decide if the other man was awkward because he didn’t want to be there or just because he was unused to making small talk. Phichit finished posting the selfie with Chris and turned to capture the larger group. “Everybody say cheese!” 

Leo gave him a look. Leo knew Phichit’s feelings on candid photography. They’d had multiple disagreements on the subject, thanks to Phichit’s propensity for posting without asking permission. Phichit refused to meet the other man’s eye. It was only polite, after dragging Seung-gil out, to give him a chance to scowl in the picture instead of giving Chris that hesitant look. And if Phichit had slipped a picture for his own camera roll first, well. Maybe once he was closer with the other man it would be alright to post it. 

 

Leo left Phichit to his own devices at dinner, fluttering around Guang-hong (as much as the level boy could flutter), but on the way back he just so happened to wash up by Phichit’s side and stick there like glue. He got off on Phichit’s floor and followed him into his room before starting shit. 

“Alright?”

Phichit shrugged. The best defense was a good offense. “You know, you and Guang-hong are pretty cute. How long have you been dating?”

Leo shrugged it off. “You know we aren’t. When were you going to tell us about your crush on Seung-gil Lee?”

Phichit blinked. Touched his chest. “Ace, remember?”

Leo shrugged. “So? You’ve been fluttering around him all evening, and you aren’t aro.” He waved off Phichit. “Maybe I got the terminology wrong, but you know what I mean.”

Phichit frowned. “Do I?” Even as he said it, he inwardly acknowledged the truth of Leo’s words. He definitely had a crush. His first one in years.

Leo looked at him. 

Phichit sighed. “I made him come out. I was only being polite.” Leo being right didn’t make it any easier to back down.

Leo crossed his arms. “Yes, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen similar displays of politesse from you.”

Phichit threw his hands out. “He’s anti-social!”

“So’s Yuuri, and that’s never inspired you to listen when he asked you to be polite.”

“Yuuri has never asked me to be polite.” Phichit wasn’t sure when he’d gotten actually angry. 

Leo was looking mad too. “You know perfectly well what I mean. And I’d bet Seung-gil hasn’t asked you to be shit either.” 

Phichit clenched his jaw to keep his next angry words in. On the other side of his bed, Leo let out a long slow breath.

“I don’t appreciate,” Leo paused to breathe again, “being made to feel like you’re only here if I need you.” He wiped a hand across his face, as if trying to brush away the anger. “I want to be here for you too.”

“You aren’t exactly doing a stellar job of it.” Phichit felt childish.

“No,” Leo agreed, “but you’re not helping me.”

Phichit crossed his arms. “You said you wanted to be here for me.”

“I do.” Leo’s voice was clearly louder than he’d meant it to be. “But when you want to be there for me, I meet you halfway. I don’t turn around and hit your sore spots to hide my own.”

Phichit bit his own lip. That hurt. It was probably fair. “Oh.”

Leo took another breath. “So all I’m trying to say is, that if you want to talk to me, you can. I’m not trying to erase your sexuality.” A large piece of Phichit’s anger knocked loose. “Just don’t throw my crush in my face, like I’m insulting you by suggesting you might want someone to listen.”

He turned to shoulder out the door. Phichit still wasn’t sure if he was just going to let him walk out. 

Leo’s phone started to ring at the same time that Phichit’s buzzed in his pocket. Logically, he knew it was the group chat, but his stomach still twisted when he saw it was just Viktor asking about meeting for breakfast. Shit. 

“Leo.” The other man only half-turned, his hair brushing forward across his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

Leo lifted his shoulder. “Right. I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have pushed.” His words were still clipped, but this wasn’t the first time Phichit had seen the other man angry. He always got sullen afterwards unless he had a chance to lock himself away with his headphones a while. 

Phichit’s phone buzzed again. This time it was Seung-gil. ‘That wasn’t awful. Don’t add me to your group chat yet though.’ And then, a minute later, ‘Are all of your friends paired off like ice dancers?’

Phichit snorted. ‘Like ice dancers?’

‘I knew about Katsuki and Nikiforov, but Ji and de la Iglesia? You and Giacometti?’

Phichit’s breath punched out of him. ‘Chris has a fiancé.’ Leo walked over to look over his shoulder at the change in his expression. 

“Shit. Should I tell Chris to back off? I don’t want to tell people that…” Phichit let his voice drift off. “I have no idea what he thinks about me. Hell, I like him, but I have no idea what I think of him.”

Leo bumped his shoulder into Phichit’s. “Everyone and their uncle knows that Chris takes a mile if you give him an inch. Seung-gil must have been buried under a rock.”

Phichit nodded. 

“I’ll talk to him. Tell him that,” Leo stood stiff beside Phichit and Phichit shook his head. “Whatever you’re thinking Leo, no. It’s not necessary. I’ll just tell Chris.”

Leo relaxed a little. “I could tell Guang-hong. If you don’t mind. He’d probably be OK… We could tell Chris he’s making Guang-hong uncomfortable.” Leo’s eyes unfocused. “Guang-hong’s a cinnamon roll. No one wants to make him uncomfortable, not even Chris.” A grin stretched across his face like lightning and was gone. “Shows what they know.”

Phichit smiled. This felt like familiar territory. “Oh? You can’t say something like that, Leo, and then not explain.”

Leo’s phone rang again and Leo shook his head and moved towards the door. “Nah. Watch me.”

“Leo. Leo, seriously. Leo, wait, you can’t do this to me. You’re playing dirty Leo, I won’t be able to sleep and then I’ll fall on all my jumps tomorrow and you’ll win by default.” Phichit whined at his friend, relieved to have fallen back into the natural order of things. His phone buzzed again. Seung-gil. 

‘I’m sorry.’

Phichit frowned at the message, only to look up as Leo opened the door. He had his phone in his hand, thumb tapping across the screen. 

“At least tell me how you ended up friends with Yuri Plisetsky.”

Leo laughed. “Good night, Phichit.”

Phichit frowned at his phone. Seung-gil was typing again. ‘I didn’t mean to hit a sore subject.’

‘You didn’t.’ This would be an ideal time to drop his sexuality into the conversation, but. There were so many misconceptions out there. On the off-chance that Seung-gil was interested too, Phichit didn’t want to scare the idea out of him before he’d had a chance to decide if he wanted to pursue this. ‘I’ve never been interested in Chris.’ 

‘Oh.’ Phichit laughed again. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to assume.’ Seung-gil was adorable. Phichit thought about telling the other man that Guang-hong and Leo weren’t together either, but if Leo was going to be rude like that… 

Instead he typed, ‘My friends are the worst. Leo won’t tell me what happened with him and Plisetsky’. He added a series of emojis.

‘Tough luck.’ And then, ‘It’s almost like they’re entertained by your pain.’

Phichit choked. ‘Rude!’

‘They haven’t realized yet that you’re the one who’s supposed to be laughing.’

Four Continents was the beginning.


	2. Two: Worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was a knock at his door two minutes later. Phichit sighed and got up to let Yuuri in. The other man glanced around as he entered, as if he thought Phichit had stuffed Seung-gil under the bed or into a closet.  
> “He’s not here.”  
> Yuuri looked a little disappointed. 
> 
> Phichit and Seung-gil work things out. Viktor, Yuri P, and Chris quick cameos. Some quality best friend time between Phichit and Yuuri, because I'm a sucker for those two and their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello darlings, I have a lovely chapter two here for you fresh out of the oven... Er. This might be the moment to admit that I've actually written nearly this entire series. So not exactly fresh out of the oven, but on the plus side, it isn't like I'm going to lose interest and stop writing. 
> 
> That said, I'm excited about this chapter. (They're all my favorite chapter when I'm writing them.) I hope you will be too. Again, I did some reading, but I'm not ace myself, so if I say something egregiously wrong or (especially if I say something) egregiously insulting, I'm horribly sorry, please let me know so I can work it out.

After three days of… whatever it was – flirting? – around the edges of their competition Phichit was unprepared for the radio silence from Seung-gil once they left. He was posting on Instagram. He just wasn’t talking to Phichit. 

Even his posts weren’t very often. Once a week, if that. Phichit lasted a week and a half before he broke. He went through and liked three months worth of pictures of Seung-gil’s dog as she begged and rolled over and gave him unimpressed looks from where she sprawled over him. The next morning he woke up to a dozen likes from Seung-gil, all on pictures of his hamsters. Phichit sighed. If that was how they were playing it…

 

By Worlds, they had settled into a rhythm. Each post of Seung-gil’s was paired by a like of some previous post of Phichit’s, usually featuring his hamsters. Phichit, in turn, liked Seung-gil’s post as soon as it appeared. They didn’t talk. They didn’t comment on each other’s photos. There was no text proposing a meet-up for dinner at Worlds. And so the first night, Phichit went out with Yuuri and Viktor and angry Yuri Plisetsky, and along the way they ran into Chris and then JJ and JJ’s fiancée. Viktor invited all to join them, the latter two seemingly just to annoy Plisetsky, since he certainly didn’t seem to care for them (or know their names? Phichit was torn between being amused and appalled) but little Yuri took one look and latched himself onto Chris, sharing pictures of cats back and forth on the walk to the restaurant. Phichit was watching and still couldn’t tell how Yuri maneuvered himself between Chris and Phichit, safe from JJ and Isabella for a given value of safe. 

Phichit was looking forward to the following night, when Leo and Guang-Hong would be there too. If Leo and Yuri wouldn’t tell him how they had met then he felt no compunctions about amusing himself watching their first in-person interaction. He amused himself egging Yuuri and Viktor on for the duration of dinner.

After dinner, Phichit grabbed Yuuri and hailed a taxi, waving at Viktor and thanking him for lending out his fiancé. He maneuvered to put the two of them in an otherwise empty taxi on purpose, because he had to consult with someone about this thing with Seung-gil before it actually drove him crazy. He was still a little salty at Leo for suggesting that Phichit could be improved by being polite, so that someone was going to be Yuuri. 

Little Yuri dove into their cab just before Yuuri swung the door closed. He didn’t even have the decency to look sorry as he explained, “Mila just showed up. Fuck if I’m sitting on JJ’s lap like she proposed.”

Yuuri snorted. “I’m sure you could have sat on Viktor’s. Or Mila’s.”

“Or Chris’s. I don’t think Chris has ever turned down an offer to sit on his lap.” Phichit leered.

“Ugh, gross.” Yuri scowled. “Fuck you all, is that all you ever think about?”

Phichit paused while he weighed the pleasure of teasing the boy against the solitude he had engineered for a purpose, dammit, that would be gone in ten minutes, and turned to Yuuri. 

“Yuuri, I.” He stopped. He’d forgotten how much this part sucked, how it never got any easier to talk about the particulars of being ace for him, or to explain the rare occasions that he got crushes. He swallowed and started again. “Yuuri, I’m interested in somebody, and I need advice.”

Yuuri, predictably, blushed and demurred before he connected the dots. Little Yuri raged in the background.

“Phichit?” Yuuri blinked his confusion.

“Not like,” Phichit waved a hand at angry Yuri. “I’m still,” nose wrinkled, “Definitely. Not interested in sex. Maybe kissing. Kissing’s nice enough. But no, just.”

Yuri stopped raging in favor of listening quietly. 

“So what… How do I tell him that?” Phichit set his jaw. The glass of wine at dinner had made him maudlin. He could feel tears starting in his eyes.

The other Yuri spoke, sounding less off-hand than he probably meant to. “You tell him that you want a relationship but you’re not interested in fucking, and if he doesn’t like it then you say fuck him.”

Phichit frowned. “It’s not that simple.” And then, “I don’t want to have to say fuck him.”

Yuuri wrapped an arm across his shoulders. “Chances are you won’t have to.” Phichit slipped an arm ‘round his friend’s waist. “But the sooner you know one way or the other the better, right?”

Angry Yuri made a dismissive noise and muttered something in Russian. Yuuri blushed. 

Phichit retrieved his hand to cross his arms over his chest and stare down little Yuri across Yuuri. “No picking on my friend.”

Angry Yuri scowled back. “Sometimes he deserves getting picked on.”

Yuuri held his hands up between them. “It’s alright, Phichit, he has a point. I am telling you to do as I say, not as I do.” Phichit started to open his mouth, but Yuuri continued. “And Yurio,”

“That’s NOT my name.”

“Phichit and I have known each other for a long time. I’m allowed to be a hypocrite with him. I’m just giving him back the advice he gives to me.” 

Phichit snorted. “The advice that one of us actually takes.”

 

Phichit left Yuuri and Viktor in the sort of emotional reunion better suited to months of enforced separation and followed Yuri Plisetsky inside. The other skater growled out loud before taking the stairs at a run. Phichit hoped the boy would find a better mood before he reached the top. He hit the button for the elevator and turned as he heard a suitcase rolling up. 

Seung-gil nodded at him. 

Phichit nodded back, mouth going dry. The elevator dinged and began to close again and Phichit jumped and stepped in, leaving his arm between the doors to open them back up for Seung-gil. The flurry of getting in and selecting a floor (Seung-gil was on three, Phichit on two) gave Phichit a moment to draw breath and he remembered his plan for this moment. 

“I took a picture of Arthur just for you. He’s the hamster you like pictures of most often, so.” Phichit flicked through his phone to the picture of the tiny grey hamster chewing on the corner of a piece of paper. On the paper he’d written “Good luck Seung-gil!” in Thai. “He’s wishing you luck.”

Seung-gil studied the picture dubiously. “Kind of him.” It was possible that Seung-gil mostly liked pictures of Arthur because he was the one most likely to mug for the camera. “I didn’t take extra pictures of Sunja for you.” At odds with his words, he pulled his phone out. “But I have some that aren’t on Instagram.”

They only looked up when there was a commotion on the other side of the doors, to find that they had been looking at Sunja through both of their floors and were now back on the ground floor with Viktor and Yuuri peering through the door at them. Seung-gil locked his phone and slipped it in his pocket. Viktor and Yuuri piled in and Phichit hit their floors again, glancing at Yuuri. Yuuri flashed four fingers at him and then raised an eyebrow at Seung-gil meaningfully. Phichit shrugged. Viktor wasn’t so subdued. 

“And what were you two up to all alone in an elevator, huh?”

Phichit felt his shoulders snap back and his voice came out sharper than he meant it to. “I’m ace, so not whatever you’re thinking.” He ducked his head so that he wouldn’t accidentally catch Seung-gil’s eye and stared at the floor until the doors dinged open again. It wasn’t even true. He was probably still interested in whatever Viktor was implying – with Seung-gil – unless Viktor and Yuuri got significantly dirtier in elevators than Phichit had given them credit for. He stepped out of the elevator and didn’t register until after the doors had closed that Seung-gil had followed him. He walked down the hall to his door anyway, pretending not to listen to the wheels rolling after him. Seung-gil stopped beside him and hummed. 

“252? I’m in the room directly above you,” and he flashed his room card at Phichit long enough to show the number. 

Phichit nodded, uncertain where they were going. He glanced up to find the other man making a close study of the hall rug. 

Phichit licked his lips and tried again. “Look, I’m sorry.” He hated apologizing for his sexuality. He hated feeling like he should, and he hated the guilty feeling that rolled up in his stomach when he realized that he had apologized for it again. “I-”

“Don’t apologize.” Seung-gil’s eyes snapped up to meet Phichit’s. “I’m sorry. If I’ve made you feel uncomfortable in anyway. I thou- I misinterpreted, I think, and I didn’t realize…”

“No, wait,” Phichit held out a hand, feeling lighter. “No, you don’t need to apologize either. I was flirting. With you.” He paused, giving himself a moment of speed before the jump. “I don’t do sex. And I don’t often do relationships, but…” He let himself trail off and dropped his gaze to the rug again. With any luck that would be enough. 

After another moment of silence he chanced a glance up. Seung-gil was actually smiling. “You barely know me.” 

Phichit shrugged. “I know your skating.” Seung-gil gave him a look. “I’m getting to know you.”

Seung-gil nodded. “So…” He shifted. 

Phichit opened his door. “Will you come in? We don’t have to have this conversation in public.” The other man followed him into the room, rolling his suitcase behind him.

“You’re going to have to check the hall before I leave again.” Seung-gil’s knuckles were white around the handle of his suitcase. “I have some… Some sponsors who won’t be happy about me visiting you in your room, with my suitcase.”

Phichit blinked at him. “OK? I can do that.”

“And we couldn’t. Announce that we’re dating, if we’re dating, if that’s something you want to do.” Seung-gil’s gaze was stuck to the rug. This carpeting was greyer than that in the hall, with a square textured pattern. “They’ll say that they want me focused.”

“That’s your call too. I know that sex is usually considered the best part of the deal when you’re dating, and if you’d also be worried about losing sponsors… I’d understand, if it’s not worth it to you.”

Seung-gil lifted his face and studied Phichit. “I’m not good at communication.” 

“I can be a lot. I don’t tune down well.” Phichit shrugged at him. “I’ll guess at what you need if you don’t tell me, instead of asking you either.”

Seung-gil nodded. “You’ll have to tell me what you’re OK with, because I’m not comfortable waiting for you to start everything.”

“Of course you’d like being in control.” Phichit hoped that his relief came across and didn’t sound insulting. “I could keep us off of social media, for anything that didn’t seem plausibly friendly.”

Seung-gil blinked, like he hadn’t expected the concession. “I… Yes, if you’re interested in dating me. I’m not easy to be, well, anything with.” And his gaze fell to the floor again. 

Phichit flopped down across his bed and stared at the ceiling as he spoke. “Having been social media friends with you for a couple of weeks now, I can say with some authority that you’re pretty easy to be friends with there.” He kept his eyes on the ceiling as he continued, carefully not saying any names. “And I’ve had some… difficult friends. No fault of their own, just,” he waved his hands in a way that probably didn’t explain anything. “Self-sabotaging. I’ve got good friends like that, so,” he sat up and caught Seung-gil’s eye for emphasis. “How much more difficult can you really be?” And changing tacks as he flopped back again, “I probably like the challenge.”

Seung-gil slid the handle into his suitcase and sat on it. “So did you ever find out how Plisetsky and de la Iglesia became friends?”

Phichit pulled a face. “For clarification, Plisetsky was not on my list of difficult people worth the effort.” He remembered the boy’s unexpected help in the cab and amended, “yet. I’m going to watch their first in-person interaction tomorrow night over dinner. Care to join?”

Seung-gil glanced at him. “Are you asking me on a date?”

Phichit sat up, letting a smile curl across his face. “So what if I am?”

“Only you,” Seung-gil looked charmed, “would invite me on a first date to laugh at your other friends.”

“Is that a yes?”

Seung-gil raised an eyebrow. “It’s not a no.”

 

After Seung-gil left, Phichit checked his messages. He had one from Yuuri, noting that Seung-gil had gotten off on the wrong floor. He was sorry about Viktor.

Phichit sighed at his phone and agreed. Yes, it was Seung-gil. Yuuri could be sorry about Viktor all he wanted, but that didn’t change the fact that if someone had offered to show either of them dog pictures they, too, would have ended up standing too close to that person while the elevator did its own thing. He said nothing about Seung-gil getting off at the wrong floor.

There was a knock at his door two minutes later. Phichit sighed and got up to let Yuuri in. The other man glanced around as he entered, as if he thought Phichit had stuffed Seung-gil under the bed or into a closet. 

“He’s not here.”

Yuuri looked a little disappointed. 

“And even if he was, as fast as he stuffed that phone in his pocket…” Phichit started to tease before thinking the better of it. “Maybe it was Viktor. Your man’s gotten quite the reputation for being extra since he moved to Japan over one little youtube video and a pole dance. Seung-gil might have thought he’d be too much.”

Yuuri smirked. Phichit would never finish being grateful to Viktor for giving Yuuri the confidence to tease more often. “But Phichit,” his smile was cruel, his tone kind, “he puts up with you so well. Once you’re done breaking him in, I’m sure that he’ll have no more trouble with Viktor than I do.”

Phichit gasped in mock outrage, delighted. “Yuuri! So savage!” 

Yuuri, delightful man, blushed. He really was the best of friends. He moved to sit and then paused, glancing at Phichit. “Where did Seung-gil grace with his seat-bones? I’ll sit somewhere else in case you want to set up a shrine.” He frowned. “Or did he really not come in at all?”

Phichit giggled again and then groaned, swooning back and laying a wrist across his face. “Yuuri, he came in. And then he sat on his suitcase! There was a perfectly good chair! We could have cuddled on the bed and looked at dog pictures!”

“But Phichit,” Yuuri was definitely about to roast him for something, “did you remember to invite him to sit down?”

Phichit knew that his blush was giving him away. “He followed me off of the elevator! We were talking about sex, and, and kissing!” He sat up and pouted at Yuuri. “Isn’t there a point where we’re talking about private enough things that I don’t have to invite him to sit down?”

“Maybe,” Yuuri returned, “he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” 

Phichit shifted. That might make sense. “I guess he was right, that we need to talk about what my boundaries are.” He huffed a sigh. 

Yuuri laughed. “You sound like me when I realize that Viktor and I have miscommunicated and we’re going to have to have another conversation about something that’s now upsetting us both.”

Phichit sat up slowly to look at Yuuri. “You’ll tell me though, if I ever need to beat the crap out of him for you, right?”

Yuuri glanced down. “Oddly enough, Yurio might beat you to it. I can’t tell if he likes me or just wants an excuse to beat up on Viktor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said in the beginning, homophobia-free world with caveats. In the case of Seung-gil's sponsers, if you want your world completely homophobia-free, assume that they aren't down with relationships of any sort. I'm afraid that I assumed that they were homophobic assholes, but you don't have to listen to my headcanons, they get dark sometimes.


	3. Three: And after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Seung-gil called Phichit late one night a strange look in his eye, and said, “I think I’m going to retire,” it took Phichit a few moments to process. There was a moment where he actually didn’t understand, followed by a moment of panic. Phichit appreciated a good routine.
> 
> Everyone deserves a happily ever after and someone to love them when they're sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it for the first story. Depending how good I am about doing my actual work versus how much I really just want to do this, the next part of the series should be up by the end of next week at absolute latest. (So, like, before Christmas. Without a doubt. Probably.)
> 
> EDIT: Definitely by new years. Next part in the series is one of two as yet uncompleted stories. It is kicking my ass and so is real life...

They fell into a pattern. For years, they fell into a pattern. 

They would meet at competitions, coordinate off-season ice shows, sneak visits to the other’s country during every minor injury, and skype between times. Phichit listened while Seung-gil complained about his coach and talked himself into knots about how he could possibly find a new one, one he could stand. Seung-gil listened the night that Phichit despaired of ever getting good enough to beat Leroy and Plisetsky, when he still had trouble with his Salchow. Every nine months or so one of Phichit’s hamsters would have a health crisis and Seung-gil would skip practice to skype him while he stayed up all night, or offer what words he could find when Phichit came home to a stiff little body. He had suggested getting three the same age so that there was some more time in between deaths, but Phichit insisted that it was much easier this way than all at once. In a week or two he’d go out and buy a new one and Seung-gil would find out with a picture in a text or a new post on instagram. When Leo and Guang-Hong finally got together they teamed up to send shovel texts, one to each half of the pair. They traded pet pictures and food pictures and pictures from foreign cities. 

 

When Seung-gil called Phichit late one night a strange look in his eye, and said, “I think I’m going to retire,” it took Phichit a few moments to process. There was a moment where he actually didn’t understand, followed by a moment of panic. Phichit appreciated a good routine.

He took a breath and tried to remember the correct response to this sort of pronouncement, the one he had given Chris and then Viktor, Mila and Yuuri. 

“Congratulations?” It came out like a question, but at least it was better than demanding ‘But what about us?’, which had been his first reaction.

“I thought you’d be happier.” 

“Of course I’m happy for you.” Phichit was nettled, either because he wasn’t as happy as he should be or because it was pretty fucking ballsy of Seung-gil to demand happiness when he’d thrown Phichit from a comfortable relationship into a question mark. Probably both.

Seung-gil frowned. “I thought you’d like to make the announcement. If you want.”

“What?” Now Phichit was just confused. It was the skaters who made the announcements. The skaters, their coaches, their federations. It was never a ‘friend’ of a skater. How was Seung-gil even expecting Phichit to do that? Just drop it into his next interview? “Like, just post a picture of my hamsters wishing you a happy retirement?”

Now Seung-gil was confused. “If you want? That seems sort of ambiguous, doesn’t it?”

Phichit wasn’t sure how much less ambiguous it could get. “What were you thinking then?”

Seung-gil shrugged, trying to look like it didn’t matter to him. “You have that picture of us in Hasetsu last summer, on the beach.” 

Oh. Phichit blushed. 

“But you’re the social media expert.”

“I thought you meant the retirement announcement.”

“Oh. No.”

Phichit cocked his head at his computer screen. “Why are you retiring, anyway? You’re still collecting new personal bests! You’re up and coming.”

Seung-gil snorted. It wasn’t an altogether happy snort. “Phichit, I’m twenty-five. I’m not up and coming, it’s going to start going downhill.” Pause, dropping his gaze like Yuuri when he was feeling unworthy. “I landed badly today and they sent me in for a check-up. The cartilage in my right knee is almost gone. I could go another season, but I’d need knee replacements by the end of it.” He looked up, wild and half-relieved and tragic. He slid his lip between his teeth and continued. “This way I go out on a high note, I can be with you openly. I could move to Thailand if you wanted? But either way…” Seung-gil’s voice trembled a little. When he began speaking again, it was very soft. “I won’t have to fight with my coach about my theme, or my costume, or my choreography. I won’t keep on doing well in the short, only to fall behind in the free.” There were tears caught in his lashes now for sure. Phichit’s whole chest ached with wishing he could be there to hold his boyfriend. “It will be better this way.”

He swallowed. “If you want to retire,” a pause to make sure that the wording wasn’t lost on Seung-gil, “then I support you, of course. If you have to retire, you know I’m here for you.” He stopped and gave himself a moment to hope that he wasn’t about to say something actually unforgiveable. “But if you’re just retiring because you think you aren’t good enough, or you’re tired of keeping us a secret, I want you to know that I also support you skating until your knees give out and then skating on plastic replacements until you’re older than Viktor was when he retired, if that’s what you want.”

Seung-gil laughed at him, tears running down his cheeks. “Thank you. That’s good to know.” 

He wasn’t going to keep skating. Phichit felt the cold fingers of the unknown creep up his spine again and spoke to ward them off. “So, you want to go public after you retire?” His brain finished processing Seung-gil’s speech of a moment ago. “You- Do you even speak Thai?”

Seung-gil giggled, wiping the back of a hand across his eyes and gave a passable “yes” in Thai, “A bit.” Before he added in English, “Not a lot, really, I just… I wanted to surprise you, and I thought, you want your ice show. And I’m tired of Korea and their demands.” He looked tired, watching his screen, and Phichit knew that, for Seung-gil, the duties of being the top skater in his country had never come easy.

He beamed at his boyfriend. “I wasn’t sure,” he admitted, feeling like a dick. “I thought that maybe, when you had the time, you might want to trade up.”

Seung-gil frowned at him. “Like I could trade up from you. Who would you possibly think I’d prefer to you?”

Phichit shrugged. “Any one of the seven billion people in the world who would be interested in having sex with you, for a start.” Feeling defensive always made him tart.

Seung-gil was reaching towards his camera like he would reach right through to touch Phichit. “Hey, you,” his voice was gentle. “Sex I can do without. Who else in the world would set up personalized inspiring photos with his hamsters whenever I’m down and then resist the temptation to put them on Instagram just because– Who else in the world would offer to keep our relationship off of Instagram before I could even request it, when he lives his whole life honest and open and… generous.” Now he was frowning a little. “Phichit, how could you even consider – Do you want to leave me?” He didn’t sound happy about the idea.

Phichit hastened to reassure him. “No, no! Of course not. I just…” He had been friends with Yuuri long enough to know how worry made people selfish. He bit his lip in some sort of self-punishment. “It’s not that I don’t trust you to stay. It’s that I don’t trust myself to keep you.” 

Seung-gil looked like he thought that might be a little bit of a lie, but he was going to pretend to believe it for now and prove Phichit wrong later. Phichit wasn’t honestly sure if it was a lie or not, but he was definitely OK with being proven wrong. “I have to figure out a few details. I thought that by the time I retired Sunja wouldn’t be a factor anymore.” Phichit felt his heart warm at the man on the other end of the phone, who tried so hard to hold everything down to the science and math and cold hard facts to hide his easily-bruised heart. 

“Seung-gil, if you want to stay with her for another year, or bring her with you…”

He shook his head hard. “She’s the family’s dog. My mother wouldn’t know what to do without her, and my father is home all day to look after her anyway.” He covered his mouth with his hands, like if he could hide its twisting from Phichit he could hide how close he was to tears. “I can’t put my life on hold for the next few years. I’d just be sitting here, waiting for her to die.” His voice broke on the last word. 

Phichit bit his lip. “I’d be hugging you if I could. Just so you know. You’re not… Whatever you need from me.” He paused until Seung-gil made eye contact through the phone. “I’m here for you.”

Seung-gil laughed, wiping the spillage from his far eye. “I know you are. Thank you.” He bit his lip. “All the internet wants to suggest for long distance relationships is, like, skype sex.” He sneered. “There’s never any suggestions for virtual hugging.”

Phichit giggled. 

 

He watched the interview live. He might not understand more than a dozen words of Korean, but he knew Seung-gil. He understood the wide dry reddened eyes and the blank stare, the set of his jaw and the tilt to his head. 

When Seung-gil texted him a picture of a boarding pass twenty minutes later, Phichit had already begged off of practice for the afternoon and was cleaning his apartment. He was ashamed, when he met the other man at the airport, that he hesitated for the barest second before embracing the other man. He’d like to think it was from those years of keeping the relationship silent, but in all honestly it was the thought of a fan breaking the news before he could. The fact that Seung-gil was finally close enough to hug, however, won out, and he wrapped the other man close to him and held on like he would never let go.

 

They weren’t quite home when Phichit got a text from Yuuri wondering if he’d known about Seung-gil’s retirement and how had the other skater made it to Thailand that fast?

He sighed. “The fans are already on this. Even Yuuri knows.”

“Probably through his husband.”

There was something about your best friend dating Viktor Nikiforov, Phichit had long ago accepted, that meant you couldn’t quite hold the whole concept in your head. Phichit knew Viktor on a personal level now, judged him and loved him as he did with his other friends, but somewhere in his soul the other man was still a celebrity and the man of Yuuri’s dreams. It was hard to reconcile that with the rest of him, and pieces tended to slide out of Phichit’s picture of the man if he wasn’t careful. His social media stalking was one. Phichit was delighted that the older man posted so much more than his friend had ever done, but he sometimes forgot that Viktor’s social media usage went both ways.

He texted Yuuri back, asking for details on the damage and how he’d heard. Adding as an afterthought that, yes, he’d known.

Yuuri’s reply was succinct. ‘Yura. Two fan pics and speculation’. 

 

Phichit was tapping through his social media in a frenzy as they walked up to the building. 

“You know none of those platforms are going away? I think you could win a social media posting race right now.”

Phichit didn’t lift his eyes from his screen. “But fans are interested right now. And when we get inside I want to be able to kiss my boyfriend.”

“You could kiss him now, if you wanted.” 

Phichit raised his gaze, feeling vaguely guilty again. “Do you want me to kiss you now?” He didn’t glance around for fans who might beat him to the social media announcement. Seung-gil was more important than that. 

Seung-gil shook his head fondly. “You have that look again. What sort of mayhem are you causing?”

Phichit looked down and tried for modesty. “No tags. Just pictures from last June when you had that ankle injury and surprised me with a date after practice. They’ll guess all night about whether it’s today, or last year, or maybe a consolation prize, or a date…”

“Or just two competitors being friendly in the off-season? You have a reputation.”

Phichit laughed. “I do, don’t I.”

Seung-gil nodded. “Let’s go inside.”

Phichit flew the last few steps to his front door. 

 

Seung-gil looked exhausted.

Phichit walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. “What do you need?”

Seung-gil bit his lip. “Distract me? Just long enough so I.” He shook his head. “There was a lot, today.” He wiped an eye with the back of a hand. “I’m glad I’m with you, now.”

That, Phichit could manage. He leaned up and kissed the other man’s forehead and then led him into the kitchen, pointing at a chair and then grabbing a cutting board and chicken. “Chop.”

He set water to boil and pulled out the vegetable ingredients, hiding them on the counter where Seung-gil couldn’t see them. Seung-gil liked spicy food too and ought to be reasonable enough not to protest the peppers that made it that way, but Seung-gil had never operated as much on numbers and facts as the other man wanted to believe. Once their dinner was cooking he led the other man into the living room and gestured to the wall. “Pick a movie.”

“Oh,” Seung-gil looked vague and surprised. “Whatever you want.”

Phichit crossed his arms over his chest. “Whatever I want is always the same movie, and I’m pretty sure you know it by heart now. You wanted distraction.”

Seung-gil tittered a tired laugh and turned to the shelves. “Alright.” It touched Phichit to no end when Seung-gil waited for him to put the movie in, and then glanced to him for permission before laying his cheek on Phichit’s thigh. Phichit petted the other man’s hair, half an ear on the kitchen and dinner. Seung-gil let out a sigh as the movie began, his whole body relaxing. Phichit’s hamsters sorted through their shavings and the title screen came up on the movie. Phichit let his other hand curve ‘round his boyfriend’s elbow and settled in for the duration.


End file.
